This rainbow is actually a hot air balloon being inflated at the Chateau d’Oex balloon festival.
Each year in the second half on January the town of Chateau d’Oex in Switzerland hosts a balloon festival. Dozens of hot air balloons rise into the blue skies above the snow-covered landscape during the day. At night they are lit up in the sky by their burners, creating a light show like no other.
This t-card celebrates another aspect of the balloon festival – the public can get up close to see what is actually involved in a hot air balloon flight. The t-card shows a partly-inflated balloon. The straight lines are the part of the envelope that is still on the ground, while the arcs show the shape of the balloon as it is going to be.
How will you decorate this t-card? What drew me to the image were the bold colours and the asymmetry between the inflated and uninflated parts of the balloon envelope.
Perhaps you will concentrate on the straight bands of colour. Knitting the circular bands would be more challenging , but perhaps more satisfying (I sense an opportunity for a t-torial on knitting circles!). Or you could be more creative and add the flame of the burner that is inflating the balloon. As always, the picture is there to inspire your own creativity.
Download the t-card that is published under the Creative Commons CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.
